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Do you ever feel pressure to incorporate the current trends of EDM into your music?

I definitely take inspiration from sounds that are not necessarily what the current popular trend is. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and pop on the radio, and I do like to think I make music that people can relate to, but not necessarily follow a trend. Every new track I do I try to take a new approach to it. We always say we like to blur the lines between genres when making music, with many different genres being poured into one track. However, when it comes to trends in music, I don't really follow that when I'm trying to create a track. I'm not like, "I'm going to create a moombahton track that's going to be the next big song!" I don't really care about that as much as I care about making music I want to play and music I want to stand behind when I'm actually performing.

Dirtybird is such a well-known local label and it seems like you guys are always having so much fun with all these various types of parties you throw. What's the best part of being a Dirtybird?

There are so many awesome things. I just feel completely blessed and so lucky to have such an awesome crew. The original crew is me, Claude Von Stroke, my brother, Worthy and J. Phlip. They are all really close friends of mine. The great part is that you're not only able to "work" but mostly party with your friends. It's really cool to be able on a daily basis to share music and be inspired by people that you love.

You've also worked with your brother on a number of tracks, including the hit "Duckface." Is it a different dynamic when you make a track with someone you're related to?

I've always enjoyed working with Chris. He brings a different take to music and he's a lot more hip-hop oriented. Whenever we've done Martin Brothers stuff we've tried to keep it really hip-hop with lots of booty-bass, 808s, and breakbeats. Just working with people in the studio in general brings a whole new element of fun. I've always enjoyed collaborating with my friends. It's definitely something that brings a lot of pleasure to my job rather than sitting alone staring a computer screen for hours.

There seems to be an absence of Dirtybird in the Park this summer...

Unfortunately we got a little bit too big for that location. Right now we're on the hunt for a new spot, and hopefully it's still in Golden Gate Park. The last party we did there was such a success there were full-on roadblocks and basically well over 2,000 people in that meadow. That kind of freaked out the rangers, so our goal for this year was to take the barbecue on the road to places like London and Detroit. The idea is basically to document as much as we can of it and shoot to get sponsors for next year's event so we can afford the necessary permits. It's possible there might be one this year, but we're going to keep it very hush-hush until the day of. But we will be back and we are not giving up. It's my favorite party in the world. It's so much fun, my parents come, and people bring their kids and dogs. We're going keep it alive for as long as we possibly can.

We heard you were a great saxophone player when you were younger. Will we catch you playing sax on a future track of yours?

I highly doubt it (laughs). For some reason, and I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but I find the saxophone in electronic music to be really cheesy sounding. There might be one or two tracks with a solo horn and that's alright, but saxophone by itself for some reason makes me cringe. Jazz music? I love the saxophone in it, but it doesn't mesh well with me for electronic music. Maybe I will try and make it work someday, but right now I don't have any desire to put it on one of my tracks.

You seem to have an affinity for 40oz's, including a contest in the works to drink a 40oz. with you. What's your favorite kind, in case someone wants to bring a gift for you on Friday?

I would definitely have to say Mickey's. I've been drinking less malt liquor lately, so my second favorite is Miller High Life. But back in the day, Mickey's was the only way for me to go.

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